How the Internet Works -- a guide for marketers
OK, I obviously can't draw. But I am home with a sick kid today, and we are drawing pictures. Here are mine.
What just happened here?
Here are the basic things any marketer, company, or anyone thinking of posting a PDF coupon or rebate needs to know.
- People really like to share things on the Internet.
- When you share or save a copy of a PDF, it is identical to every other copy of that PDF. There is no way to distinguish between a PDF someone printed directly from your website, a PDF someone saved to their computer and printed 50 copies of later, or a PDF they emailed to their friends to print.
- There's this thing called geometric progression. If I share a copy of your PDF with two people, then they each share it with two people, then their friends each share it with two people, then... pretty soon you have a whole lot of PDFs floating around.
- If you put something up on the Internet that can be saved and copied, and all those copies are identical, someone will inevitably save and copy it to a place that is not controlled by you. Other people will inevitably find it there. Then they will share it with their friends. (See step one, rinse, and repeat.)
So basically: Once you release a coupon or a rebate form in PDF (or jpg, or any other copyable) format, you cede all control over how that coupon or rebate is distributed. People will share it. People will copy it. People will save it for others to share and print and copy. Whether they should do this is irrelevant: What's important is that they will. Know that going in, and accept the consequences.
This information is freely given. It can save you a lot of money and grief. If you want to hire me as a high-priced corporate consultant, I'll give you this same sketch and charge you for it, if you like 🙂
hysterical. and true.
LOL That is fantastic!! 🙂
I am just astounded that no one at any of these companies does not have anyone working there that realizes this will happen - even after it happens over and over and over again!
They do know that it happens. What is going on behind the scenes is that they decide to "save money" by not using a more sophisticated system (or pay for a service to do it for them), and in the end, it bites them in the butt.
You'd think that after this has happened eleventy-seven times, they'd STOP trying to save a few hundred bucks on marketing a $5 or $10 coupon/rebate that has the potential to cost them HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of dollars more than they planned.
Can you put those sketches in PDF format? 🙂
AWESOME!!
LOL, maybe I should watermark them.
Too late. I have already saved them and posted them all over the interwebs, claiming credit for the talented art work. CopyRONG be darned!
Alas, I have been hoist on my own jpg!
Brilliant. I also don't get how the people working at these companies fail to foresee this. Obviously they need to start paying us the big bucks to save them from themselves.
My guess is that they weigh the low cost of an in-house created PDF versus the (potentially) high cost of contracting with coupons.com/bricks/smartsource to administer the coupon, and decide to go that route to 'save' money. Or they don't realize that redemption rates for internet coupons are dramatically higher than other distribution models and just don't expect it to be that popular.
Or that's my old marketing professor would say. 🙂
you are awesome!
Too funny...reminds me of the old shampoo commercial ("and they tell 2 friends, and so on and so on and so on...")
Take that, Brita!
Oh man, this is HYSTERICAL...I love it!
They know what they are doing - they are collecting info for the cost of a few cents. Jane smith in PA finds the PDF and posts a link, so me over here in Hawaii finds the link, prints the PDF and uses the coupon too, and etc etc
That info costs them what? Less than the $100K they will make.
On a rebate, they are collecting valuable information. On a coupon, not so much.
Actually more than you think -
with the store name/#, they can collect demographics for that area, they can get the demographics for that store in particular, they can see how far their coupon went in what length of time. (I am also sure they have a distribution to redemption time model).
There is much broad based info that can be collected. Redemptions only give 1 person info, and that info must be entered into their data stream. The coupon has a bar code so they can see what coupons from which media source are actually being redeemed - so what media coupon clippers are using and to what percentages, i.e which media is most effective.
I was referring to personal data, like names and addresses. The requirement of e-mail addresses and phone numbers on rebates lately are kind of irritating me.
You are so cracking me up today! lol
Awesome! Same goes with the "1 per person" wording on the deal like the one for Panda Express today. I have 7 people in my family, but they always give us grief about the kids getting something. Then reword your PDF coupon to say something else.
This puts a whole new spin on a joke my best friend and I have. Some people don't seem to know how to interact with kids and we say to each other "First, imagine they're a person".
love it! I'm going to have to use that.
Awesome! 🙂
Rachel....you 'need' to get out of the house! LOL
Bravo, Rachel !!!
By far your most interesting post since reading your blog which I do multiple times daily. Loved it, was laughing all day.
Hahahahahahaha! My favorite is "the google." Too funny. Hope Mr. Sick is feeling better soon.
Hope you are feeling better otherwise drawings on your site all the time. LOL
This is awesome, Rachel. Thanks for the laughs.
Um...yep! Thats about how it goes! The sad part is they never see it coming!
Hey Rachel, you left off one option. There are people who will copy the PDF and when the company pulls it (rebate, q, whatever), they will turn around and sell it on ebay. There were a bunch of people selling the Brita rebate on ebay for .99 plus shipping. Great lesson to the corp types out there! Thanks for trying to educate the sellers.
I love it. You are too funny. I don't think many companies have a clue what goes on out here! Maybe your lesson should be passed around to millions! I used to resort to drawing pictures to our health insurance company years ago, and it really worked well, because they never seemed to be able to read the letters!